Curiosity
by Futagi
Summary: When a new terrorist organization acquires nuclear material in Gotham, Bruce enlists the aid of an old friend to train Terry to steal it back.
1. Chapter 1

**Curiosity**

Chapter 1

The back alley between 5th Avenue and Parkway was silent and still, the only sounds coming from a few alley cats chewing their dinner. Suddenly, their ears perked up as footsteps came rushing into the alley. They merely glanced at the human rushing past them, then returned to their dinner.

The human running through the alley, however, was not so calm. His clothes were torn, his eyes were wide with fear, and his breathes were coming in gasps from his out of shape body. And every so often, he glanced up, as though expecting something to fall from the night sky.

As if to meet the man's expectations, a dark shape suddenly dropped in the shadows before him, causing the man to stop in his tracks.

"Have a nice jog, Mr. Jenkins?" the darkly clad figure asked, white eyes almost glowing in the shadows of the alley.

"No! N-no! It's you! Get away from me!" Jenkins screamed, still panting from his run. He attempted to back away, as the figure emerged from the shadows, revealing the bright red bat insignia on his chest.

"Not so fast, Mr. Jenkins," Batman said, grabbing the man's shoulder as he prepared his thrusters. "We still need to talk." With that, he launched into the air, Jenkins still struggling in his arms, heading towards the nearest skyscraper.

--

"Now then, who were those people you were dealing with?" the Tomorrow Knight asked, his voice adopting a low growl he'd learned to take on when interrogating criminals.

"I-I don't know! I swear! I'm just a mid-level guy! I don't know any-- Aaaaah!" With a small push, Jenkins' explanation was suddenly cut off as he began falling to the concrete hundreds of feet below. Terry sighed. Why did they always have to make him do it the hard way? Wasting no time, he leapt from the roof himself, using his thrusters to give him an extra boost towards Jenkins' bound form. Roughly, Terry grabbed the man and began the glide back up to the roof of the skyscraper.

Jenkins was a shivering wreck once they reached the top, his screams choking in his throat.

"Alright, Jenkins. One more chance." Terry threatened, cracking his fist for emphasis. "Because to be honest, after that tiring cat-and-mouse game you decided to play earlier, I don't know if I can catch you a second ti--"

"Alright!" Jenkins cried out. "It was for some organization. My boss was the one who made the deal. I was just the delivery boy. Honest!"

"Then start delivering some answers." Terry hissed, grabbing the man by his lapels. "I already know who your boss is. In fact, I'll probably be paying him a visit tomorrow night."

"_He didn't need to know that, McGinnis_…"

Terry chose to ignore the Bruce's critique (mostly out of annoyance but partly to keep the criminal underworld of Gotham City from thinking that Batman talked to himself) and continued the interrogation.

"Now. What is the name of that organization?" he asked, clenching his jaw.

"I-I don't … it was some foreign group. From outside of Gotham. I just know the guy's name I was dealing with. Called himself Harken. That was all the info I got on him, I swear!"

"And what did you sell him?"

"I-I don't know! Something in a canister…"

"I know that already! What was _in_ the canister? Where did you steal it from?" Terry demanded.

"I-I'm not sure what was in it… but I know we got it from Wayne-Powers. The southeast branch. We had some sort of insider… I dunno who though!" Jenkins stammered, his face white with fear.

"_That's all he knows, Terry_."

"How can you be--" Terry started to ask, before he remembered he was still gripping Jenkins, who, in spite of fear, was giving him a quizzical look. He growled instead, "How can you be such a lowlife scum!"

"Eeep! I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I swear! I'll go straight!" Jenkins cried, cowering.

"_Nice save_," Bruce added, sarcastically. Terry had to stop himself from making another reply. Instead, he changed his hold on Jenkins and took off into the night.

--

"Alright, the police have Jenkins," Terry said looking down at the flashing police lights in the street below. "Though I still think I could've gotten more information out of him."

"_No, you couldn't_," Bruce replied.

"Like I was going to ask before, how can you be sure?"

"_I've been doing this longer than you. Trust me, that was all Jenkins knew. One drop was enough to break him. Though next time, you might want to use a line_…"

"Hey, I caught him!" Terry protested.

"_How could you be sure you would?_"

"With his body? He had more wind resistance that I did. That would be the only factor difference in our falls since otherwise we'd fall at the same rate. Plus I had the thrusters to give me extra propulsion--" The old man's sigh on the other end made Terry pause. "What? I sometimes stay awake in science class."

"_Just get back to the cave_," Bruce sighed again.

--

"I analyzed the footage you got of the deal with the suit's video feed," Bruce explained as soon as Terry entered the cave. He never turned from the monitor, instead slowly playing the video and carefully watching for the right moment. Terry had to admit, it was strange knowing he had broken up the criminals' deal less than an hour ago and here he was watching it again on the Batcave's large monitor. He watched again as two cars pulled up to an empty lot and each party emerged from their vehicles. Jenkins, his driver, and two guards stood to the left while across from them the four from the other group stood near their car.

These were the member of that mysterious organization Jenkins had been referring to. Foreign to Gotham was right, Terry realized, as he had never seen any of these men before. For the most part, they were indistinguishable from the usual Gotham thugs with one exception: they kept every single distinguishing feature of their anatomy covered. And whats more, they didn't use masks or costumes. Rather, they wore large trench coats with the collars turned up, large-brimmed hats, sunglasses, and even gloves. The only exception was their leader, who wore no hat, allowing his shoulder length black hair to fall over his upturned collar. Harken, Jenkins had called him.

Terry continued to watch as Jenkins began to cross the lot, a large canister in his hands.

"There," Bruce stated, suddenly stopping the footage. Terry peered at the screen then shook his head.

"I don't see anything." he commented.

"Just a moment," Bruce replied, typing in a few keys. First the screen zoomed in on the canister, then the image sharpened, allowing Terry to see a number printed in black on the rim of the canister.

"What is that? A serial number?"

"Exactly," Bruce confirmed, picking up a piece of paper to his right. "I checked it in the Wayne-Powers database. It came up in an encrypted file…" He paused, as though waiting for his protégé to come up with the answer.

"Meaning someone in the company's trying to hide something," Terry replied. Bruce nodded his approval.

"Once I got through the encryptions I managed to find out what that particular item was." With that, the old man turned around in his chair and pressed a button on the keyboard, bringing up the aforementioned file for Terry to see.

The boy's eyes widened as he read the information.

"Nuclear material? In Gotham?"

Bruce nodded.

"But isn't that illegal?"

"Hasn't stopped them before," Bruce replied, turning back around. "On a side note, it looks like the manager of the Southeast division is going to be looking for a new job in the morning."

"But what interest would they even have in stuff like that?" Terry asked.

"Recently, the manager of the Southeast division has been expressing interest in 'specialized' energy experiments. Looks like he was referring to nuclear," Bruce explained. "Wayne-Powers has some of the best engineers in the country. Other companies in cities without a nuclear ban would pay top dollar for the results of such experiments. For example, LexCorp in Metropolis."

"Do you want me to investigate the Southeast division tomorrow?" Terry asked. Bruce shook his head.

"No, you have something more important to do," he answered, bringing the video back up. The image of Jenkins giving the canister to the organization filled the monitor. "There's nuclear material loose in Gotham. And it's not coming from Blight or a reactor."

"But I don't even know this organization's name." Terry protested.

"I do." Bruce replied. He typed a few buttons on the keyboard, allowing a new file to pop up. "Harken's a member of a terrorist organization known as the Tiger's Claw. It formed from the remnants of a terrorist group formerly led by Red Claw. Each member goes by an alias, their backgrounds completely wiped away. It makes their members incredibly hard to track or investigate."

"So how do you know this Harken guy?"

"This group came to Gotham several years ago. Harken was one of their members then."

"He's using the same alias?"

"An alias is permanent in the organization. It's the only way the group keeps track of its own members." Bruce explained. "It's also their one weakness. That's the only way I've been able to track them at all."

"Got it. Say, can we watch the rest of the video? It was just getting to the good part." Terry asked, a smirk forming on his face.

"You mean the part where you let Harken and his group get away?" Bruce admonished.

"Hey, I was busy with Jenkin's group. I thought he was the one I was after." Terry protested.

"Yes, and he almost got away too."

"At least I remembered to take out his driver first! His guards just slowed me down for a minute. Besides, I knew I could outrun him." Terry explained. Bruce shook his head and sighed.

"At least you got a tracer on Harken's car." he finally gave.

"Exactly," Terry agreed, as he began to stifle a yawn. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'm going to head home. I'm bushed."

With that he turned and began to head for the stairs.

"Oh yes, and your mother called again. Remember to pick up the milk," Bruce reminded him. The boy simply raised his hand in reply and continued up the stairs.

Once Bruce heard the usual metallic clang of the door to the cave shutting, he began to place a call.

"Irena, please." he said to the person on the other end. He waited a moment. "Long time, no see. I know I'm probably the last person you ever want to talk to again, but I need your help…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The following evening started with a scouting mission. Bruce had called, giving Terry the address of where the traced car had stopped, which turned out to be an old building on the edge of town. The building itself was a simple square four-story cement structure, surrounded by a large metal fence complete with barbed wire on top. At first glance, it would have looked like an abandoned military facility, but the armed guards at the entrance told Terry otherwise. Once he had completely examined the perimeter and managed to get plenty of pictures and footage of the building itself, he returned to the cave.

"That's definitely the place," Terry said, leaping out of the Batmobile. "Whatever's going on in there, they don't want anyone to get in."

"You weren't spotted?" Bruce asked.

"Nope."

"Good. Now then, we don't have much time…"

"For what?" Terry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For you to be able to get in there and steal the canister back." Bruce answered.

"I figured I'd just get in there like I usually do…" Terry began. Bruce shook his head.

"Not a chance. Not with this group. There are armed guards everywhere. The gate entrance, the roof, all ground floor entrances. And there's no way, even in that suit, you could take them all at once," the old man explained. "At your current skill level, you don't have a chance of getting in there without being noticed."

"So teach me how," the teenager stated impatiently. Bruce shook his head again.

"I don't have those skills either," he replied. Terry's mouth dropped.

"W-wait. You're the Batman. How can you--"

"Sneaking and stealing was never my forte. Sneaking and taking people out, yes. Sneaking into an office building to get a simple file, yes. Sneaking, getting noticed and giving everyone something to think about in the process of escaping, also yes. But this isn't about knocking out a thug, and it's not an escaping mission. You _have_ to get that nuclear material back. Lords know what Tiger's Claw will do with it," Bruce explained.

"Then who…?"

"I believe that's my job," a feminine voice from the shadows interjected. Both men turned to the speaker. Terry got a good look at her as Bruce rose from his chair. She was an old woman, probably about Bruce's age really, with short silver hair and sharp green eyes. Despite her age, she looked stately and had an elegance about her that somehow told Terry that in her younger years she had been beautiful. But the most surprising thing about her was the wheelchair in which she sat.

"Terry," Bruce stated, gesturing towards the old woman, "I'd like you to meet Irena Dubrovna…better and formerly known as Selina Kyle."

--

"Catwoman?!" Terry all but shrieked.

"Oh, he's a quick one, isn't he, Bruce?" Selina said, sarcastically.

"She's going to be training you for this case," Bruce stated simply.

"B-but…she's Catwoman! She's a…a…"

"Cat burglar? Thief? Master of breaking and entering?" Selina purred, propping her head with her hand.

"She's the best at what she does. And it's what you need to be able to do to get that canister back." Bruce interjected in his there's-no-room-for-argument tone. Terry sighed, giving in.

"Alright, kid. Let's see what you can do." Selina said, seeing that the objections were over. She crossed her arms.

"Like what?" Terry asked.

"Well, for starters there's a lovely training area over there. You could start by wheeling me over to it," she answered with a hint of annoyance.

Terry sighed again and grabbed the handles of her chair. Despite his misgivings though, several questions raced around in his head. When had Bruce revealed his identity to her? Could a former criminal really train him for what was ahead? And most of all, how had Catwoman, former femme fatale and master thief, ended up in a wheelchair?

--

"Tiger's Claw rarely stays in one place for more than two weeks. Think he'll be ready in one?" Bruce asked.

"Hmm…well, you certainly have my work cut out for me." Selina sighed, watching Terry work in the training room.

"You think he's no good?"

"No, he has some skill, I'll give him that. But he lacks that intuition, that ability to really hide and sneak." Selina commented. "For example, look at how he jumps from one obstacle to the next. He's relying too much on the suit and raw power. He should be leaping when he's jumping."

"You mean he's too loud." Bruce provided. Selina nodded.

"Hey, am I done yet?" Terry called from the center of the training room.

"In more ways than one," she said so only Bruce could hear. To Terry she yelled, "Alright, kid, that's enough."

For a moment the two former masked comrades stood silently as they waited for Terry to return, the air between them burning yet chilling at the same time.

"So, who is he?" Selina asked, breaking the silence.

"If he chooses to tell you, that's his business." Bruce replied. Selina shook her head.

"You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that? After all this time, after everything I've done for you, and you still don't trust me?" she snapped. Bruce shook his head.

"_I_ trust you. But it's obvious he doesn't yet. You'll have to earn that from him," Bruce explained. "But 'Terry' will do for now."

"Not 'Batman', I notice." Selina responded. Bruce didn't comment, the frown on his face only deepening.

"In any case, I didn't realize you were recruiting again," Selina commented.

"I wasn't. He came to me."

"Hmm, is that so?"

"I intended to hang up the costume for good." Bruce said, sternly.

"Really? How'd he get into it then?" Selina demanded.

"He stole it." Bruce revealed. Selina's eyes widened in surprise. She was about to ask Bruce if he was joking but quickly remembered who she was talking to. Instead, she rubbed her chin and looked up at the black-suited figure walking towards them.

"Mmm, on second thought, there might be hope for this kid yet."

--

"So, Harken, I hear that once again a bat is on our trail."

"He will not be a problem this time, Three." Harken replied, holding an earphone against one ear while he fiddled with the knobs on a machine.

"Make sure that he isn't. After what happened last time…"

"Last time, he sent a cat. And we took care of her."

"She still managed to destroy our data! Our project had to be scrapped. That last mistake made me look like a fool to the others," Three reminded him, angrily. Harken almost sighed. Politics within the organization were of little interest to him. There wasn't even a head really, just a bunch of numbers each with their own projects and followers. Harken wasn't even sure how many there were. He'd heard of One, Four, even Eight, but whether the other numbers even existed he couldn't say. Then of course, there was Three…

"It's taken me over 20 years to recover from that blunder. Make sure it doesn't happen again!" Three hissed.

"Unlike last time, he'll have to get out of here-- with the canister-- alive. And we'll know where he is, at all times." Harken answered with a smile, patting his machine. Ah, old technology. The things people never thought of. Well, he did.

"I'm warning you, Harken. Do not fail me." Three threatened, leaving the room. The threat lingered like a bad odor for Harken to ignore. Luckily, he was good at ignoring things that bothered him.

"Fool," he muttered under his breath, continuing to fiddle with the knobs.

--

_A/N: Sorry, I normally don't do these in the middle of stories, but I will be moving, so it might be a small while before the next chapter is up. My apologies. Also, apologies for the original characters, but they were necessary for the purposes of this tale. _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

During his first few months as Batman, Terry had been put into a strict training regime by Bruce. His mentor had pushed Terry to the utmost of his physical strength and endurance. And Terry had kept his body in peak shape ever since. Discipline and hard work were definitely no strangers to the boy. By strength of will and dedication, he could now complete any training task given to him by Bruce.

Selina Kyle's training regime was another story entirely.

For one, she insisted his training take place on the rooftops of Gotham City, not in the Batcave. Also, where Bruce's training was based on physical ability, something Terry could always improve with time, Selina's relied on raw skill. Her training required Terry to be flexible, graceful, and, which Selina emphasized most of all, silent. Worse yet, aspects of the bat suit he had become accustomed to using, such as his thrusters and gliders, she insisted he couldn't use.

"Far too loud," she had insisted when he tried to use them to get from one building to another.

"How do you expect me to get that far? Jump?" Terry had snapped back.

"Of course not," Selina had replied, shaking her head. "You'll have to use a line, like we did in the old days."

"A line?" Terry had asked, incredulously. Oh, the old man was going to have a field day with that one.

"Though you'll have to use one of mine," Selina had continued, ignoring him. "Bruce's were always far too loud when he fired them…"

And then she had required him to be quick, agile, sneaky, and invisible--without using the suit's invisibility.

"I didn't mean be invisible literally," she had explained with a hint of annoyance to her voice when Terry had activated the invisibility component. "If you can't learn to be unseen without using the suit, you'll never survive this mission. Rely on your own skill over your equipment. Besides, that invisibility technology's not perfect. Your outline's still partially visible and there are still ways to detect you."

"Like what? Smell?" Terry had replied sarcastically.

"I was thinking more along the lines of infrared and ultraviolet, but if you think smell's how they'll detect you first…" Terry's sigh of annoyance had cut her off as a grin appeared on her face.

And then, she had insisted on making modifications to the suit itself. This she had said in the cave with Bruce present.

"We need to add climbing gear to this suit," Selina had said, looking critically at Terry's gloved hand.

"Why?" Terry had asked.

"Good idea. He'll need to be able to scale walls." Bruce had agreed.

"I think I have just the thing." Selina had replied.

As a result, tonight was the end of a very frustrating week for Terry. The frustrating new style of training combined with the two former comrades practically ignoring his existence when he tried to voice his opinion was pushing his temper to the limit. Except now he had to remember to make sure the suit's new _claws_ were retracted before clenching his hands into fists when he was angry. After Selina had suggested the modification, Terry, desperate to have some opinion on the matter, had asked how claws fit in with the whole bat theme.

"Probably somewhere with the gas pellets and tights." Selina had replied sardonically.

"Besides, they do have claws," Bruce had insisted. "Little claws on their wings."

With that, Terry had let the argument drop.

"You know, I can hear your grumbling." Selina stated, bringing Terry out of his thoughts and back to the present moment, where he was practicing a handstand on a building ledge as part of a warm up exercise. The position made him feel ridiculous, but Selina had insisted it would help his balance. "It'll be a dead giveaway."

"Fine," Terry had grumbled through clenched teeth.

Selina merely sat silently for a moment, her chin propped on one hand.

"Hey, kid," she said, suddenly. She watched as his hands clenched the ledge a little tighter in annoyance, momentarily bringing a small smile to her face. Even though Bruce had introduced him as 'Terry,' Selina insisted on calling him 'kid,' especially once she saw how much it irked him. Served him right, keeping his identity a secret. "You realize there's a reason for all these exercises, right?"

Terry turned his face towards her, as though prompting her to continue.

"Tell you what, let's have a little test," she continued, taking off her necklace, a simple green pendant on a gold chain. "Go down to the bottom of this building. Use your usual techniques to get to the roof. Your goal is to steal this necklace." With that she placed it on a small utility box. "You need to be able to get it without me being able to hit you with one of these paint pellets." She continued, pulling a couple of small round objects from her purse. Terry came down from his handstand and stared at her incredulously.

"But you're…it doesn't seem fair…" he started, only to barely miss being pegged by a pellet Selina had silently flicked out of her hand.

"Don't underestimate me, _kid_," she sneered, anger flashing across her face. "Now get down there!"

"Sheesh. Fine. I'm going. I'm going." Terry protested, gliding down to the ground below. Once there, he raced around to the other side of the building, so that when he came back up, he'd be facing Selina's back. It would take her a little while to turn around in that wheelchair and he would probably be able to steal the necklace before she even noticed him on the roof…man, this test really was unfair. Oh well. The old lady had insisted on it. She had no one to blame but herself--

"Whoa!" Terry cried out, barely twisting in the air to keep a paint pellet from hitting him. He was only a few feet from the roof when the pellet had appeared from nowhere. It was only from Bruce's training in observation that he'd noticed it when he did.

"Well, that was close," Terry muttered to himself, landing on a window ledge. The thing was, he hadn't seen Selina anywhere near the ledge. How had she managed to toss it with such accuracy? Had she simply been tossing them off the roof randomly? It seemed unlikely for a person of her caliber, but still…Terry decided to take the building stairs to the roof just in case.

Turning around, he opened the window, glancing around the room to make sure the building was as deserted as he thought, then hurried to the stairwell in the hall beyond the room. Fortunately, he was on the top floor so it didn't take him long to climb the stairs and come face to face with the door to the roof. As he reached for the knob, he activated his cloaking ability, then opened the door.

_Splat!_ A paint pellet hit him square in the chest, the brightly colored paint appearing to float on his invisible form.

"See what I mean about invisibility?" Selina said from her chair located at the center of the roof. Terry deactivated the invisibility and paused. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"But you hit me…"

"Keep going," Selina ordered. "I'll tell you when we're done."

Terry sighed, then crouched. He just had to get behind her quickly and snatch the necklace from where she couldn't hit him. All he had to do was be faster. A quick leap and thrust would accomplish that.

The thrusters had just barely pushed him into the air when another pellet hit him in the face, practically appearing there. For a brief moment Terry wondered how it had appeared like that, but he blocked it from his mind and kept going for the necklace, since Selina hadn't told him to stop.

He managed to dodge the next few pellets with a few flips and twists he did almost subconsciously. Selina's exercises, as much as he hated to admit it, had definitely improved his agility.

At last, he managed to get close enough to her chair to manage a quick cut and sprint to the necklace just behind her. His fingers were just inches away from the gleaming pendant.

_Splat!_ A final paint pellet hit him in the back of the head.

"Enough, kid." Selina said, from a few feet behind him. "You lost."

Terry turned to face her and was shocked to see her back towards him. _She didn't even turn around to throw that last shot._ The realization of exactly who this woman was finally began to soak in. Before, she had just been Catwoman to him, another rogue from Bruce's gallery, a file on the computer. Now he realized just what that meant. She wasn't just a thief; she was a master cat burglar, one who had often managed to evade the former Batman. And she had done it all on her own, using her wits more often than gadgets. That took skill, real skill. Compared to her and Bruce, Terry felt like little more than a street punk in a super-powered costume.

"Now you get it, kid?" Selina scolded, snapping Terry out of his thoughts. "You couldn't get past a little old lady in a wheelchair. What do you think is going to happen when you try to sneak into a building full of armed soldiers?"

Terry stood, uncharacteristically silent, as though letting the words and situation sink in. Selina wondered if perhaps she'd crippled the boy's pride, when he suddenly spoke, in a soft voice, almost as if in awe, "Did you really throw all those shots?"

Selina was momentarily taken aback by the question, but quickly replied. "Of course. It's like I told you, kid, you're either too loud or too predictable. Both are deadly when you're trying to sneak." She glanced over to the side of the building where Terry had tried to fly up. "For example, I could hear you flying up from there. It was a simple matter of tossing a few pellets over the edge." She looked to the door. "When the door opened by itself, I knew you'd simply turned on your invisibility and hit you there. And I simply flicked a pellet into your trajectory once I realized you were going to try to fly."

The boy nodded.

"And as for the shot behind me, well, that was just me showing off." Selina continued. "Though, it's not hard to hit a target three feet behind you."

Once again, Terry simply nodded. "This is why Bruce wanted you to train me."

"Pfft. Of course. That man has a reason for _everything_ he does." Selina retorted. Terry couldn't help but notice the bitterness in her voice but it disappeared when she continued, "Just like this training does. I'm not wasting my golden years watching you do handstands for my benefit, kid. It's to give you the skills you'll need to do this mission."

"I-I understand." Terry mumbled, turning back to the ledge to continue his warm up. Selina sat with her head propped on her arm, watching as the kid assumed the handstand again. She'd clearly made an impression on him. Good. Perhaps now he would simply listen without questioning her every time she told him to do something. It would certainly make the evenings quieter.

"Hey," he suddenly called out.

"What?" she asked. The boy paused for a moment, as though contemplating the question going through his mind.

"When did he tell you?" he finally asked.

"Hmm?"

"His identity. When did he finally…"

"Oh. You mean when he decided to reveal his big secret to me?" Selina asked, arching an eyebrow. At Terry's confirming nod, she continued, "Oh, it was years ago. Way before you were born."

"Why?"

"For years, we were chasing each other. Each of us escaping in our own way," Selina reminisced, seemingly ignoring Terry question. "One day, we just decided to stop. I was getting older, getting tired of the chase. For him, I suppose it was loneliness. The 'big bird' was spending all his time in Bludhaven, the 'little bird' was permanently out of the game, and the girl was just tired of playing superhero, I suppose.

"But boy, that was the surprise of a lifetime! Learning that the masked hero I was so enamored by and the rich man I considered 'just a friend' were one in the same. But I have to admit, we had some really great times after that. Both as socialites and as masked vigilantes."

"So what happened?" Terry asked when Selina paused. He came out of his handstand, noticing as he did so a look of sadness that flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by her usual confidence.

"What can I say?" she said with a shrug. "I eventually tired of the whole mask thing. Decided I was ready to live a normal life. But Bruce…he wouldn't let it go. Or couldn't. Looking back on it, I guess I should have realized; he was only really wearing a mask when he took it off."

"So you broke up?" Terry pressed on, a hint of understanding in his voice. This wasn't the first tale he'd heard of one of Bruce's love interests leaving him over conflict with his dual identities.

"Basically. After that, I settled down. Started a family." When Terry's eyes widened, Selina smirked. "You heard me right, kid. I had a daughter. Beautiful little girl with pretty blue eyes, just like her father…but anyway, as for Bruce, he just continued doing his Batman thing."

"I see."

"So that's it. We got together, he told me his secret, things didn't work out, we went our separate ways. Now, aren't you supposed to be doing a handstand?" Selina stated. Terry sheepishly turned around to face the ledge, then glanced back at Selina, one more question popping into his head.

"Hey, um, how did…well…uh, never mind." he stammered, grabbing the ledge.

"You're wondering how I ended up in the wheelchair, right?" Selina finished. The teen quickly turned around, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Don't worry, kid. I don't mind telling you. Though you might as well sit down. It's a slightly long tale."

Terry leaned against the walled ledge, waiting for Selina to continue.

"Well, it all started over twenty years ago," Selina started, a dark look coming onto her features. "When Tiger's Claw first came to Gotham…"


End file.
